


Dirty Dishes

by zarabithia



Category: Avengers (Comic), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Community: comment fic, Dark Reign., F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-19
Updated: 2010-03-19
Packaged: 2017-10-26 13:25:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What is war good for? Apparently, it's good for making you want to punch your teammates and giving your first dates over a sink full of dirty dishes. Kate adjusts to the second better than she does to the first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dirty Dishes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following prompt at comment fic:: "Bucky brought the Young Avengers into the New Avengers during Dark Reign."

There was no mistake about it: Kate was proud of her team. On the whole, the SHRA hadn't been particularly kind to the Young Avengers, but no one could deny that the new shadow cast over their world by Norman Osborn was showing just how well the Young Avengers could step up.

But the fact that she was proud of her team showing that Iron Man and Captain America had been wrong when they'd tried to keep the Young Avengers from forming didn't prevent the new situation from driving her close to wanting to smack a teammate. Or two.

It took Kate exactly one weekend of the new status quo to get into a major fight with Eli.

 _"Yes, Eli. I am perfectly aware that this is dangerous and not a game. Did you think I thought it was a game **before**? How fucking insulting."_

It took Kate a little less than two weekends of spending time in Steve Rogers' basement to bite down a full-fledge screaming match at Cassie.

 _"Wait, are you complaining now because you are forced to identify as a fugitive with the rest of us? **Really**?"_

Kate was able to hold back for an additional two weeks from yelling at Billy and Teddy about their sheer inability to resist trying out various rooms in Captain America's house for their kinky sex play.

 _"No, it has nothing to do with my fight with Eli. It has to do with not wanting to have to explain to the others why my teammates can't control their hormones."_

By the time she got around to wanting to yell at Tommy - for, well, being _Tommy_ \- she realized it might have something more to do with her than her teammates.

So she was simply trying to avoid another yelling match when she made her way out of the basement and found her way to the kitchen.

She was really not expecting Bucky to be there. She was less expecting Bucky to be there washing dishes (because who did that in the dark?) She thought about making her escape, because dealing with people was not a good plan.

But then he turned around to look at her and raised one soapy hand in a half wave.

Well, running away at that point would have made her a coward, and no one would _ever_ be able to say that Kate Bishop was a coward.

"Hey," she greeted instead.

"Miss Bishop," Bucky greeted in turn. "If you're looking for a place to hide from your teammates, you couldn't pick a better place than the kitchen while I'm washing dishes. Curiously, the fearless Avengers tend to avoid this part of the house when the sink's full."

Kate bit back a bitter retort about spoiled superheroes, because that would have pushed the bitchy quotient overboard, she figured. Instead, she picked a different battle. "Not hiding."

Bucky snorted and rinsed off one of plates before setting it in a rack to drain. "Escaping a better word?"

"No," Kate groused. "It still makes me sound like a chicken."

" _Kate_." Bucky focused on a particularly stubborn stain on the bowl - cheese from Barton's nachos, from the look of it. "Take it from someone who has seen all of this before? War does this to you. It makes you want to punch your best friend one minute and hold on to them for dear life and never let them go the next. Never mind that neither are very practical."

That was somewhat comforting, Kate supposed. "Captain America never told us _that_. Well, the part about wanting to punch our teammates being normal." Actually, he'd always kind of implied the opposite.

The cheese was long gone from the plate, but Bucky continued scrubbing regardless. "Yeah, well, Steve was a special case."

"Yeah, otherwise the world wouldn't have fallen apart without him, would it?"

He glanced up long enough to give her a quick smile. "All I know is that I loved every one of the Invaders. But there were times I wished for Toro's flight ability so hard I could taste it. And if I'd had it, I would have ran away and hid much farther than the nearest kitchen."

"I - I'm glad," she answered, which sounded entirely wrong outside of her head, as most of her sentences to Bucky tended to. "I mean, not glad that you had a sucky time in the War- " _Smooth, Kate, smooth,_ she chastised herself, "but glad that I'm not ... just being a crappy teammate."

"War makes everyone a crappy teammate," Bucky conceded. "Look around. Barton temper is getting shorter and shorter, Parker is content to be a self-righteous jackass despite the fact that it's his nemesis that's causing all the problems... " Bucky trailed off, letting her fill in the gaps herself.

Which she was definitely able to do, because she wasn't blind. "When you put it like that, I guess I shouldn't get so pissed at Billy and Teddy for relieving a little sexual tension, just because some of us can't do the same."

"Never begrudge your teammates a good beer or a good roll in the hay," Bucky answered. "Especially during a war. But as long as you remember that, you're good to go. And no crazier than the rest of the Avengers currently are."

It was the first time anyone had referred to her as just an Avenger - not a _Young_ Avenger. Kate thought that she could definitely get used to it.

"I don't know, you seem to be doing pretty well," she pointed out. "Dispensing sage advice over a sink of dirty dishes. It's very Steve-wan Kenobi of you. That because this is all so old hat to you?"

Bucky gave a quiet laugh. "If I was doing well, Kate, I wouldn't have moments where I wanted to punch people for not washing their own plates."

"Maybe you just miss having a partner," Kate offered cheekily. She stepped forward and reached for a towel - white and blue, and so very obviously Steve Rogers' towels. She was surprised they didn't have little red stripes on them to complete the look. "You wash, I dry?"

"My dear Kate, I believe this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."

She glanced over at him as he handed her a plate. He'd looked better when he'd been sporting the black leather look, but there wasn't anything wrong with this one, either.

Friendship Kate was definitely up for. If it went further than that, she wouldn't be opposed.  



End file.
